Thank God It's Today (TGIT)

The meeting of the wee ones went well yesterday. Their faces are shining beacons of sweetness and savvy. I felt myself plugged into Source being near them ... near their pure light.  Prior worries and concerns fell away.

We attended his daughter's soccer game of which her traveling team has stayed on top. It was an interesting and relaxing experience to sit among cheering parents as we watched an unfolding win take place. Blair has such a signature force behind her kicks that once her foot makes contact with the ball, it's prudent not to be nearby.  It was exciting, watching her make a goal and inadvertently pummel those who got in her way.

During the evening in, I was shocked and awed by a very corrupting South Park Uncut movie that Brent wanted to watch. I covered myself with a blanket, hoping the blanket would absorb the profanities and adult content and shield the young ears beside me. After watching it several times in rewind due to the enthusiastic young and curious, I found myself eventually becoming desensitized and wanting to sing along to the catchy tunes, lol.

We finished off the evening watching a more tame movie and polishing down pizza and Red Bull. It made for a wonderful day of introduction :)

As I don't have pictures to share of the youngsters from that day, I'll share pics taken by their father the day prior.

~ Natural born equestrian ~

~ Total cuteness ~

It's interesting, watching myself and wondering who I've become and who I'm becoming ... To watch walls once held firmly in place tumble down ... What immediately came to mind was Tom Hanks in the movie Turner & Hooch. He believed he wanted the status quo life of order and rigidity until ... lol ... Anyway, I'm lowering the volume of noisy thoughts and tuning in to the flow of life ... the flow of where my feelings take me ...  If there's anything that's guaranteed, it's change ... and instead of resisting, I relax as I focus on all the good in my experience.

As far as today, it was all about chores ... it nearly took all my time ... and now I'm preparing for Monday. TGIT (Thank God It's Today ;)

As indicated in my prior post about a warm-up writing assignment:

Create a recipe. The title of the recipe is "How to Write Everyday". The words to use in creating the recipe is grease, roast, fold, rub, cook, bake, tender, shake ...

• Thoroughly Grease an inflexible schedule until it becomes malleable enough to allow for writing time.
• Roast the inner critic.
• Cook up several ideas or themes ahead of time, so there is always new material on standby.
• Rub in a moderate amount of nouns, adjectives and verbs.
• Fold in humor to keep mixture from becoming to rubbery.
• Shake in an eyeball portion of punctuation.
• Bake the mixture of words and paragraphs until they are cohesive to the touch.
• Garnish with Tender Loving Care. ☺

♥

Creative Friday

Yesterday, Laura and I had our Creative Friday! It was sooo good to see her again ... to feel the strength of her support and to be re-infused with enthusiastic inspiration.

We did what we do best: Ate and hang out in bookstores. She asked if we could meet early so we could eat breakfast AND lunch, lol.  Sharing her appetite, I responded with a resounding and excited yes. ☺ At breakfast, we got each other caught up on our lives. During lunch, she shared in confidence, parts of her history which were quite riveting.

Despite it being Black Friday, the bookstores were not at all congested.  We found ourselves spending most of our time in the New Age and Reference sections of both Barnes & Noble and Borders Books.

~ Few books I found of interest ~

We had fun taking pictures of each other with books around us on the floor.  As those pictures were taken using Laura's camera, I'll include those here once she sends them to me. 

~ She and I perusing the New Age section ~

Being with her inspired me to finish up my next Exploration project and to blog more. I decided that instead of blogging just about my life, I will include results of my warm-up writing assignments taken from several books.

~ Scrumptious cinnamon scone with cinnamon tea ~

As we were wrapping up our get-together back at my place, we sampled some of the assignments in one of her books.  I jotted down several to try. So in my next post, I will provide the results from one of the assignments, one of which is as follows:

Create a recipe. The title of the recipe is "How to Write Everyday". The words to use in creating the recipe is grease, roast, fold, rub, cook, bake, tender, shake ... LOL, it will be sooo fun. Laura also has the same assignment, but she is to use a different ingredient of words. ☺

I slept in today, sleeping way more hours than I'm used to, and I now need to take time to get ready to head off. This is the day I get introduced to Bill's children ... I'm nervous and excited at the same time! ☺

♥

An experience beyond thought ...

I intended to blog when my weekend came to a close, but got inspired to blog sooner after reading my new Artful Blogging magazine.

Today is Thanksgiving ... and I am having what is traditional for me which is a meal totally untraditional for most of those in the US, lol. So far, I've had a raw fruit pie and chased that down with my favorite chocolate:

It's wonderful to feel healthy, loved, and surrounded by beauty and books.

I'm currently practicing the art of allowing ... it surprisingly requires no strain, this sweet sensation of surrender.

This morning I sat in the warmth of the sun on my patio, feeling the caress of the breeze and watched the clouds as they were quickly swept from my line of vision.

My preference would be to not feel as physically run down as I do. Thankfully, I have this weekend to rejuvenate.

Thanks to a movie I watched recently which was based on the true story of the poet, John Keats, I am pondering the art of poetry.

I became engrossed as he tried define poetry: "A poem needs understanding through the senses ... The point of diving in the lake is not immediately to swim to the shore, but to be in the lake ... to luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not work the lake out ... it is an experience beyond thought. Poetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery."

It fascinates me ... those whose work is posthumous ... He wrote 150 poems.  The poems his reputation most rests upon were written in the span of nine months, from January to September 1819.  I like the way it was phrased "This intense flowering of talent remains unparalleled in literary history."

The theme to his poem, A Thing of Beauty is that beauty can be found anywhere and when appreciated can be used to raise your spirits in times of gloom. Mmmmm, yes!  My motto all along =)

So grateful!

Friday night unfolded with flowers, a cooler packed with goodies, kisses, kava, candlelight, incense, sushi, coconut water, Red Bull and music. We then snuggled on the couch, watching the movie he rented, Notting Hill. As the evening progressed into morning, it became CS (Cardio Saturday). We strolled around my neighborhood hand-in-hand, under the beginnings of a full moon. Electing to live "in the now" at that late (or rather early) hour, we gave in to our respective sweet tooth(s) by chowing down on mini-cookies dunked in milk. I was fascinated to learn the optimum submersion time is a full 20 seconds --  So thanks, Bill for that helpful tip! =)

As morning light announced the newness of the day, we awoke, and I melted under his gaze, loving ways and thoughtfulness. He brought his own espresso machine to prepare my chai tea, and his cappucino. We then filled our tummies with fruit smoothies. As there was little coconut water left after making my smoothie, he got resourceful and made his with Red Bull, lol (not too bad, actually ;)

Staying true to his Virgo nature, he then proceeded to clean the rampant ice from my freezer despite my insistence guests are to relax. His irrepressible urge to do so began at 2 AM, but he refrained so he wouldn't wake me. Even as I type this I'm laughing hysterically as I hear the out-of-control icemaker work now to vigorously replenish what he took. I discovered it is futile to get in his way when it comes to clean up, so I stepped aside as he made my bed, even though he didn't sleep in it.

~ Creating the foam for the latte ~

~ Effort to purge my freezer from rampant ice ~ 

As night approached, we dressed up to attend a holiday party among his peers at work, some who were also his students. Nearly everyone he introduced me to underscored what I already knew, and that is how fantastic he is :) The night was replete with good cheer and food. All at the party appeared genuine and it was refreshing to see the dance floor filled with both genders letting loose.  And yay that we won a raffle prize: a gift certificate to the Outback =)

Our weekend together ended as we gorged ourselves with the best of IHop this morning ...

Later today, I was wistful about go to the bookstore, so I indulged (without my Laura :( ) ... Anyway, I was happy to see they have the newest Artful Blogging magazine out, so I got it, naturally!

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." - Melody Beattie

Mmmmm ... I'm super happy and grateful for all that I have and all that I am :)

I am ...

One exercise in my Inner Excavation book is to write something from a starting point of phrases, such as “I am ...”

I am on the precipice of new understandings about myself and my spiritual strength. Engaging with others reveals which spiritual muscles have atrophied.

Mom (sister passed away) and Bri (cryptic and imploring letter) are having a rough week ... Feeling helpless, I lost my balance as I got caught in the undercurrent of their suffering. I swam back to shore only to be greeted by terrestrial, inner demons, Pesky and Creepy. I had to remind them they are not invited and had them escorted out.

I am carefully guarding my thought ...

I am refusing to permit anything antagonistic or unlovely to enter my consciousness ...

I am putting my whole trust, faith and confidence in the good ...

I am thinking with clarity, move with ease and accomplish without strain ...

I am expecting everything I do to prosper ...

I am allowing good to flow into my experience ...

I am seeing good in every direction I look ...

I am looking forward to more good ...

I am recognizing my union with all people and all events ...

~ My mom while in Greece ~

~ My beau and I with a fully decorated, hardcore fan ~

Dreaming on ...

In keeping with last week's advice, I decided to go for it and took the plunge ... Finding myself going down the rabbit hole, I came out of the other side greeted by his eyes, his smile, his romantic gestures. He comes bearing gifts, always. I see intelligence, humor and enlightenment for starters ... He's enigmatic ... someone I can't figure out ...

He said I am like the wind and cannot be captured. I think he's not only managed to see my hand of cards, but he understands it better than I do, as he seems to be a step ahead of my next thought ...

I spent a great deal of my weekend before him. I introduced him to kava and after getting high, we dined at a restaurant called Casablanca, both ordering fish dishes and expresso. As self-proclaimed, enlightened beings, we declared everyday is our birthday ... Being the prankster I've discovered him to be, he put in a birthday request for my Gemini twin, he named Bella (my carefree spirit side -- unbound by rules or society's restraints), and the restaurant, under loud speaker, proceeded to single me out by name and wish me a happy birthday in song. As I realize "resistance is futile," I helplessly played along and took it like a big girl ... 

As the skies only revealed a handful of faintly lit stars, we decided to reserve stargazing for another night.

This morning I was treated with a personal "Bed & Breakfast," the meal comprising of eggs, whole wheat toast, orange juice and chai tea. I must say, I give it a 5 out of 5 stars rating ;)

Afterward, he took me to the game ... I can't remember the last time I've been to one ... We both partook of traditional fare: Foot-long chilli/cheese hot dogs and chocolate ice cream on a waffle cone. There was only way to eat it and that was to also wear it, in part, lol. I'm happy to boast our team won, which I think is the way it should always be for home games.

Aside from indulging in loving experiences, I'm reading a book on increasing intuition ... it's quite fascinating ...

Anyway, here's my youtube pick for the week:

The Beach in November

I had another wonderful CS with Laura!  We started the day with breakfast at IHop followed by photography at the beach.  It was so brisk, feeling like the coldest day of Fall.  We caught each other up to speed with our respective lives/activities.  She discussed the parallels of certain characters in the novel she's writing this month, the storyline of which I will say very little for her creative privacy purposes.  It would be cool to be able to bottle a fraction of the creative energy she uses on artistic pursuits and then sell it ;P

I'm faced with another fork in the road and her advice is to go for it, despite there being so much at stake.  She and I discussed at length my tendencies ... I'm just as curious as the next person to see where my feet will tread; I will simply have to follow the signs and my instincts and do my best to allay fears along the way.

Anyway, after the beach, we ate at Seasons 52.  Also, in keeping with our routine, we also visited nearby bookstores (Barnes & Noble and Borders Books) to get our fix for creative inspiration and to do our part in helping the economy with our given purchases ;)

Love Love LOVE this song on Youtube:


♥